September 9th in 1980s Baseball.

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Happy ’80s Birthday to Alvin Davis, who won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1984 when he hit .284 with 27 homers and 116 RBI. His teammate Mark Langston finished second.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Todd Zeile, who made his debut with the Cardinals in 1989 and spent 16 seasons in the bigs. He’s also related to John Adams and John Quincy Adams, so he’s got that going for him. After retiring,

Happy ’80s Birthday to Tom Foley, who made his debut with the Reds in 1983 and spent 13 seasons in the bigs with Cincinnati, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Jerry Mumphrey, who put up good numbers for the Padres in 1980, hitting .298 with 52 SBs.

He spent 15 years in the big leagues with five teams.

Happy ’80s Birthday to Steve Ratzer, who appeared in 13 games for the Expos in 1980 and ’81. His lone start comes against the Phillies on the final day of the 1980 season.

Jim Corsi was born OTD in 1961. Jim pitched in the big leagues for 10 years and won 22 games while saving seven. He passed away at the beginning of 2022.

9/9/84

The Reds trade Paul Householder to the Cardinals for John Stuper.

St. Louis flips Householder to Milwaukee prior to 1985 and he enjoys his best season. Stuper pitches one more season in the big leagues and retires, eventually serving as the head baseball coach at Yale.

9/9/81

Ted Power throws three scoreless innings in relief for the Dodgers in his big-league debut. He is traded to the Reds the following October and spends 13 years in the major leagues and later becomes a coach in the Cincinnati system.

9/9/83

Otis Nixon makes his big-league debut as a pinch-runner against the Orioles. He collects his first hit a few days later and spends 17 years in the major leagues

9/9/84

Mike LaValliere makes his big-league debut as a defensive replacement and goes 0-for-1 at the plate. He signs with the Cardinals prior to 1985 and spends 12 years in the major leagues, winning a Gold Glove in 1987.

9/9/84

Tom Browning goes 8 1/3 innings against the Dodgers and gets the win in his big-league debut despite allowing 11 hits. The Reds win the game 5-1 and Browning finishes 2^nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 1985, throws a perfect game, and wins a World Series over 12 seasons.

9/9/84

Rex Hudler makes his big-league debut as a pinch-runner against the Red Sox. He spends 13 years in the major leagues and has been a broadcaster since 1999.

Big Days

9/9/80

Mario Soto strikes out 15 in a complete game win over the Braves.

9/9/80

The Twins score 15 runs against the Brewers on just 3 extra-base hits. Remember when that was possible?

Roy Smalley goes 4-for-5 and seven other Twins get at least two hits.

9/9/80

Steve Rogers throws his 2nd straight shutout as the Expos beat the Mets 3-0. Rogers goes 4-1 with a 2.25 from September 1st on and the league hit .198 against him.

9/9/83

Britt Burns throws a 1-hit shutout to beat the Angels 11-0. It’s too bad he couldn’t stay healthy.

9/9/86

The Dodgers steal seven bases against Atlanta in a 9-5 win. Steve Sax and Bill Russell grab three each and Bill Madlock adds one.

9/9/87

Nolan Ryan strikes out Mike Aldrete in the 7th inning to notch career punch out number 4,500. Ryan records 16 strikeouts in the game.

9/9/88

The Braves beat the Padres 5-4 in 11 innings and Bruce Sutter picks up the 300th save of his career, making him just the 3rd player in history to reach the mark (Gossage, Fingers.)

It was also the last pitch Sutter would throw in the big leagues.

9/9/89

Fred McGriff’s 16^th-inning single drives home the game-winning runs in a 7-5 Toronto win over Cleveland. Toronto batters collect 11 hits and draw 11 walks.